Romania

Romanian Painted houses

Titanium dioxide is mostly used in paint, but has many other applications. Because it is non-toxic, it is also used as a colouring agent in foods, in cleaning agents and toothpaste has a white colour because of this mineral. It has a very high refractive index, meaning it scatters back most of the light. In fact, only diamond has a higher refractive index. This property gives titanium oxide its most important asset: it has incredible whitening powers.

The fountain pen

Romanian Petrache Poenaru designed the first fountain pen, with a barrel made from a large swan quill which was patented in May 1827 by the French Government. In those days, a tiny fragment of ruby was attached to form the wear-point. The pen soon evolved and in the 1830’s iridium was used on the iridium-tipped gold dip pen nibs.Today’s modern fountain pen looks somewhat different and are usually made from stainless steel or gold alloys with the most popular gold content being 14 and 18 carat gold.